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Artificial Heart Recipient Has No Pulse
laggist writes "A heart patient in Singapore has been implanted with an artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, allowing her to live without a pulse. From the article: '... the petite Madam Salina, who suffers from end-stage heart failure, would not have been able to use the older and bulkier models because they can only be implanted in patients 1.7m or taller. The 30-year-old administrative assistant is the first recipient here to get a new artificial heart that pumps blood continuously, the reason why there are no beats on her wrist.'"
The story is light on details, but an article from last year in MIT's Technology Review explains a bit more about how a pulse-less artificial heart works.
I agree with you that it is great that this works and progress is being made. However, if it came down to being able to feel my heart beat and die, or being kept alive by an artificial heart...I think I might rather die. Remember every reference to "your heart", "my heart", "our hearts" in songs? For someone with "no" heart these become meaningless. Yeah let's keep the tumor-infested rat around longer so we can "observe" it. Who cares if the lab rat can't feel anything, be intellectually stimulated, or be able to reach REM sleep. I find no dignity in being, for the sake of being. The real question to ask yourself is if "you" would like to be kept alive by such a device, just so someone else can watch you,(and later profit handsomely from what they learn)? Sorry I wasn't born a lab-rat, and I hope not to die as one.
Now "cloning" body parts on the other hand....I would take a clone of my heart any day of the week, and twice on Sunday!
-Oz